• Business & Career Building

  how to license my footage for a TV show?

  Posted by Davis Moore on February 11, 2009 at 4:54 am

  Much thanks in advance for any advice –

  My footage is being re-edited into a segment on a TV show. What is the name of the license agreement that would allow me to contol the length of time and manner in which the video footage is used?

  I am donating the footage for free, but would at least like to retain control over its usage. Are there templates for this sort of thing, or is an attorney necessary?

  Davis Moore replied 17 years, 5 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  David Roth weiss

  February 11, 2009 at 5:39 pm

  Whatever you do, don’t pay an attorney to write boilerplate for a free or low-paying deal. If you’re going to survive this business you need to learn to write basic agreements and deal memos yourself. When there’s a real money, your estate, or your entire business on the line, that’s a different matter.

  In this case all you need is a simple one paragraph agreement called a footage license or usage agreement. Just state the facts:

  
  FOOTAGE USAGE AGREEMENT

  For a fee of ______________ I hereby __________ grant ___________ one time usage of x-seconds my video footage depicting ____________ to be used only in the project entitled __________ . I retain all rights to the footage in perpetuity.

  By signing below you agree to these terms.

  _______________________
  them

  _________________________
  you
  

  David Roth Weiss
  Director/Editor
  David Weiss Productions, Inc.
  Los Angeles

  POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

  A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
• 

  Davis Moore

  February 11, 2009 at 6:19 pm

  Thanks! Very helpful information to have –

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